Giraffe in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all extant land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant. Its scientific name, which is similar to its archaic English name of camelopard, refers to its irregular patches of color on a light background, which bear a token resemblance to a leopard's spots, and its face, which is similar to that of a camel.